Recently, I purchased a lot of STAR TREK comics (TOS and TNG) at the Birmingham ICE event. I picked up the ones DC published in the 80s and 90s, some of them for less than a quid.

I have to say, judging by the letters pages, I would not have chosen to be a STAR TREK comic editor.

Some of the letters cannot resist pedantry. The letters which praise the stories cannot resist a subtle dig or back-handed compliment ("I enjoyed everything, all good, etc, etc. But before I end, I must just point out that you made a mistake with Picard's collar pip in panel 5, page 10."). It seems 80% negative.

In one issue, the editor even pointed out that, unlike fans of other comic properties, TREK fans seem to want *every* panel to be perfect.

Criticism is fine. Constructive criticism is better. I find most superhero comics had a balance. But it seems that with the letters in the TOS and TNG comics are almost all negativity. It was depressing. Even the most positive letters could not resist a complaint at the end. Even within praise, there was a subtle dig or back-handed compliment there.

I have never read anything like it.

Are Trekkies, particularly those who read comics, even more pedantic and anal than fans of non-Trek comics?

The letters which praise the stories cannot resist a subtle dig or back-handed compliment ("I enjoyed everything, all good, etc, etc. But before I end, I must just point out that you made a mistake with Picard's collar pip in panel 5, page 10.").

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There is a layer of fandom that cannot simply say "I like this." It's as if they are afraid they will be taken to task for such a blanket statement, and must fine tune it. "I like this, except for...."

This reminds me. I am a member of a book club (we meet up once a month in a pub or cafe).

There's a guy there who is quite pedantic. At the end of the discussion, we score a book out of 10. On one occasion, to a rather awkward silence, he claimed he was giving a book a 9 out of 10 despite him finding the book totally enjoyable.

His reason? He was displeased that there was nothing in the book to criticize - so deducted a point for that reason alone. Some of us asked him if he was joking or being facetious. He wasn't.

Are Trekkies, particularly those who read comics, even more pedantic and anal than fans of non-Trek comics?

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As most of you know, last year I attended two conventions, my first is a dozen years or so, both celebrating STAR TREK's fiftieth anniversary. Setting aside my annoyance at seeing later iterations of TREK coat-tailing on this even, I was pleased to encounter Trekkies in such numbers, and to discover they seemed much more polite and non-pedantic than so many comicbook fans.

While they were just as quick to skewer what they perceived as errors, they seemed much more open to expansion of the mythos. No "Why was this never mentioned before?" thinking, at least that I encountered.